470 job losses at Diligenta in Exeter and Salisbury ‘s...

470 job losses at Diligenta in Exeter and Salisbury ‘shocking’

Today’s (Wednesday 26 June) announcement that the financial services company Diligenta will axe about 470 employees during 2014/2015 was branded as ‘shocking’ by Unite, the country’s largest union.

Diligenta’s sites at Exeter and Salisbury will bear the cuts, with only a small workforce consisting of the risk claims team and potentially some IT staff remaining at each location. Employees at the two sites work on the Friends Life account.

Unite regional officer Chris Gray said: “We are shocked and disappointed by the scale of the proposed job losses – and angry that up to 15 per cent of this work is being offshored to India.

“Unemployment is high in Exeter and Salisbury and we believe these job losses will have a major detrimental impact on the local economies and communities.

“We are fundamentally opposed to the dismissal of UK workers purely because the work they do can be done at lower cost by workers in another country. This work should remain in the UK - at Exeter and Salisbury.

“The workers being dismissed have given many years loyal service to Friends Life. It is a terrible and shocking blow for them and their families.”

Unite said that there are no plans to make any employees at Diligenta in Bristol redundant. Friends Life has announced that it intends to retain all its employees at Exeter and Salisbury, albeit in different or new sites.

These job losses are on top of the 2,000 already announced today by Direct Line which Unite dubbed as “a savage bolt from the blue”.